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Posts tagged ‘Fur on Film’

Here’s a pic from the 1947 film The Lone Wolf in London gratefully contributed by The Green Fairy:
[singlepic id=585 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The actress is Evelyn Ankers, and the fur is fox, and the gentleman in the background is giving it a rather stern look. Perhaps he’s wondering how such a nice fox turned up on film in 1947.

Turns out I don’t have The Lone Wolf in London, but I was confusing it with 1940’s The Lone Wolf Strikes, the followup to The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt, which features a very large white fox coat and a silver fox jacket. I do have that one and you may learn all about those furs soon…

Films show up here for 2 reasons, what I’ve come to call “1 Epic Fur” or “Fur Overload.” 1 Epic Fur is pretty obvious, that’s the The Great Bank Hoax from last week, or the poster child of the entire “genre” The Awful Truth. Fur Overload is the Roberta‘s of film, a bunch of good stuff all in one place. Sometimes there are crossovers, such as The Dolly Sisters, which is loaded with beautiful furs, and anchored by something that would make it noteworthy if there weren’t a single other fur in the entire film.

The Dolly Sisters – The Film

The film The Dolly Sisters is a biopic of the real Dolly Sisters, who were identical twins famous for working in early film and on Broadway in the early 19th Century. Though the original sisters were identical twins (and brunettes), there wasn’t a spare Betty Grable laying around so in the film, the sisters aren’t quite so identical. June Haver fills in as the other sister, and she looks quite a bit like Betty, though no one is going to confuse the two. The film traces their rise from Hungarian emigrants to stardom, though the ending is a bit happier than it was in reality, especially for Jenny Dolly.

The Dolly Sisters – The Furs

This film is full of great fur fashion, though one particular piece does stand out above all the rest. Since it’s better to save it up for the end, so to speak, I’m going to run through the furs outside of the film’s chronological order. I’m also going to shamelessly add something that I know isn’t really fur, but looks pretty good nonetheless. The Dolly Sisters is well stocked all around, in terms of both the stars and supporting characters in lovey foxes and another furs.

We do open somewhat chronologically with the Sisters Dolly, Betty Grable and June Haver, doing a little command performance set up by Uncle Latsie (S.Z. Sakall playing the “S.Z. Sakall role”). Yes, those are feathers, not fur, but ultimately they’re meant to be evocative of fur, and they’re nice and big, and pastel, so I’m including them.

This film is interesting in that Betty Grable doesn’t show up in gray fox, something her costume designers saw fit to wrap her in many times over her film career (Moon over Miami, Down Argentine Way, etc.). Gray fox does make an appearance in this reasonably short sequence.

As the Dolly sisters grow in prominence, they do some shows in Paris. These ladies appear as part of the opening to one of their stage performances. Not sure why they decided to divorce the cigarette holder from the white fox stole.

The sisters, successful, return home in these heavily mink trimmed coats. When the “trim” is the entire sleeve, that’s trim I can love. The big shawl collars are a perfect match.

This is Jenny Dolly’s love interest Harry Fox (John Payne), and her romantic rival in the story, Lenora Baldwin (Trudy Marshall), tastefully outfitted in a fox stole the likes of which probably wasn’t all that common for the time period, but these are the kind of anachronisms I enjoy the most.

We’re going to skip to the happy ending of the film for a moment, where many Jenny and Harry reunite at the big show. Here’s the show’s MC, who’s got an excellent white fox collar going on there.

Lenora holds onto Harry, oblivious that she’s about to lose this little romantic entanglement. It’s hard to tell here, but she’s wearing a black fox stole over her arm.

Better close up of the MC’s fox collar. No, can’t remember who this is, but she wears “giant white fox collar” well.

Close up of Trudy Marshall as Lenora, with the black fox stole on her shoulder this time.

Here’s the best shot of the stole and the collar together. The black fox stole has a full three tiers, very nice and full, and makes for a nice juxtaposition to the big white fox collar.

And here we are, the reason The Dolly Sisters would be on this site if there weren’t a single other fur in the film. This coat is technically only “trim” but this is my favorite kind… the kind where is damn hard to tell it’s only trim.

Fortunately the director of photography was obviously no dummy, and set up this shot just to show off this beauty in its entirety. As you can see, it is in fact an enormous set of white fox cuffs and huge fox collar, backed up by the trim along the sweep of the coat.

Closer now, the ¾ shot gives us the perfect view of the best part of this coat, the collar and cuffs in all their silky white glory.

This part of the film chronicles a real incident in Jenny Dolly’s life, a car accident in 1933. Perhaps the date explains the giant white fox coat.

In the movie Jenny loses control of the car and she, and this amazing white fox coat, careens over a cliff. In the movie she awakens later with a band-aid on her face.

In the film, Jenny Dolly recovers fully and reunites with her man at the show with the MC and her white fox collar shown earlier above. The Dolly Sisters is a musical from 1945, so happy endings were pretty much mandatory. The reality was that after the wreck and the subsequent set of surgeries (not just a band-aid), the real Jenny Dolly hung herself in her hotel room in 1941. Yeah, that would have been a bit of a downer ending for a big budget musical, so they played around a little with the facts. Historical inaccuracies aside, the film provides a great showcase for fur fashion, and the massive white fox trimmed coat from Jenny’s accident is one of the best you’ll find anywhere.

As mentioned in the last film update, films from the 30’s with an heiress are “must-record”. Films about small towns are… fur fashion kryptonite, so to speak, even if they’re also from the 70’s. Sometimes wild, random hunches pay off, as they did in the case of The Great Bank Hoax. Maybe it was the 1978 glowing in the program guide that suggested that, yes, there was promise here. Expecting five minutes lost to a pointless fast-forward, what I found was a most pleasant surprise.

The Great Bank Hoax – The Film

The plot of the The Great Bank Hoax is virtually immaterial to why it ended up on this site. It’s about 2 officers at a small town bank, Burgess Meredith and Richard Basehart (miss ya, Gypsy), who concoct a scheme to defraud their own bank by way of a teller’s “test” embezzlement. The teller, Richard Smedley (Paul Sand), had done it to prove it could be done and give the money back, but his bosses realize there’s even more money to be made if the embezzlement appears to be quite real. This has nothing to do with the minor sub-plot at the beginning of the film with a lady named Patricia and her desperate need for a loan…

The Great Bank Hoax – The Fur

Patricia is played by Constance Forslund, whose filmography is dotted with a lot of TV guest roles between the odd film. She was on 2 different episodes of CHiPs! Patricia meets up with the 70’s small town bank teller equivalent of a a white knight hacker, Richard, after a game of bingo and takes him back to her place, where…

Where she puts on her full length silver fox fur coat and attempts to seduce him into giving her a loan. Yes, this is an example of the “seduction in fur” cinematic cliché. Granted, I’m not sure how much of a cliché it is, after all, I’d think it would have to happen a lot more often to reach that status. I’d love it if happened a lot more. Patricia’s lovely, large, silver fox is the only fur in the film, but it gets its cinematic due and is used oh so effectively.

Patricia shows off her coat to Richard. This was 1978, and I was 3, and full length silver fox coats were something to be shown off, admired, and used as tool of seduction. Sadly, many of those facts have changed today.

Richard, being that good, honest guy he is, takes a few minutes to catch on.

Though, at a certain point, even he catches the clue train. Right about the time Patricia and her big silver fox fur coat are on top of him, then underneath him, and in generally very close proximity.

As we enjoy a close up of a rejected Constance Forslund laying on the floor in her fur, now would probably be an appropriate time to point out the movie is a family friendly PG comedy. So, get your dirty minds out of the gutter, nothing actually happens.

Not the least of which is because Richard can’t give Patricia the loan she wants, so he feels it would be wrong to take advantage. Patricia shows up at the bank the next day, searching for someone who can give her a loan. She ends up with Jack Stutz (Burgess Meredith).

Patricia arrives working not only the big full length silver fox coat, but a cigarette holder as well.

Sadly, the director of photography for second sequence kind of let everyone down. Outside of a wonderful intro shot as she enters the bank and the camera pans up from her heels over the fur, to her face, the rest of the sequence doesn’t showcase the fur or the holder very well.

Yes, I can find something to complain out in a movie where a blonde vamps it up in a full length sliver fox fur and a cigarette holder. I suppose had been editing the film, the director would have called me in and asked why they never saw Burgess Meredith once in the entire sequence, and lingered on b-roll of Constance smoking with the holder.

Patricia and her attempts to seduce her way to bank loan liquidity are confined to the top of the film, and once she’s gone, there’s no more fur. Still, any film that indulges the fur seduction mystique then tosses in a cigarette holder for good measure is worth some time. Goes to show that sometimes good furs will show up in most unlikely of places.

City Heat is a movie from 80’s about 30’s, two great fur fashion decades that film great together. What about movies from the 70’s about 20’s? The films in questions would be a couple low-budget camp horror films featuring Vincent Price as a guy who really holds a grudge well.

Dr. Phibes – The Films

1971’s The Abominable Dr. Phibes and 1972’s sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again are rather similar films. Price plays the titular doctor, who in the first film enacts some very complex revenge on the doctors and nurse whom he blames for his wife’s failed care after a car accident 4 years previously. In the sequel he does the same thing against the people who stole his scrolls’o’resurrection and burned his house down. In both cases his ultimate goal is the return of his well-preserved dead wife, and in both cases he is assisted in his multifarious murder plots by the voiceless Vulnavia.

Dr. Phibes – The Furs

It is Vulnavia and her signature outfit that provides the lions share of the furs in the films. This outfit is a lovely black cape, blouse, boots, gloves, and a very full black fox hat. A version of this costume is seen in both the first film and the sequel. It’s not the only fur, though. Vulnavia appears once in The Abominable Dr. Phibes in the negative of her usual outfit, a white mink jacket and fur hat. Dr. Phibes Rises Again features more than just Vulnavia in furs. Fiona Lewis plays the love interest of one of the Dr’s foes and she appears in a couple of full foxes.

In The Abominable Dr. Phibes Vulnavia is played by Virginia North in what was her final film role. Miss North appeared in another film notable for fur, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The first appearance of Vulnavia in her signature hat is as chauffeur to Phibes.

Vulnavia’s other white fur outfit appears later, as she calmly assists the good Doctor in another homicide.

Virginia North had experience as a model, which served her well for this role, since she had no lines, and retained the appearance of cool detachment throughout.

Chauffeur, murder accomplice, dog walker… Vulnavia does it all, and looks great doing it. Here she wears a black cape to complement the fox hat.

The nature of the character is never explained, and theories include her being a clockwork android. One that does pause for a smoke break…

…and look directly at the camera from time to time.

Both the Doctor and Vulnavia appear to have died by the end of The Abominable Dr. Phibes, but, hey, it’s a horror movie and the antagonist always comes back for the sequel. 1972’s equally campy low-budget affair features more than just Vulnavia in fur. Here we have Fiona Lewis, as the main squeeze of the Doctor’s foe in Dr. Phibes Rises Again. Miss Lewis not only has a full fox wrap, but accents with a bit of a short cigarette holder.

While they chat, Vulnavia has returned and is up to her usual, calm, cool, and collected homicidal tricks. Her black fox hat and matching black cape/boot/glove ensemble are sadly not seen so much in the sequel.

The silver fox and black fox sequences are inter-cut allowing us to admire both at once.

Though the stylish fox hat returned, the head supporting it did not. If you’re comparing closeups and thinking, “hey, wait just one gosh-darned second here!”, you’re right, that’s not Virginia North, that’s Valli Kemp. Miss North could not don the black fox hat once more as she was supposedly pregnant by the time the sequel began rolling.

Valli Kemp had even fewer credits to her name, though her ability to stand and look very beautiful catapulted her to being Miss Australia of 1970, and subsequent runner up for Miss World of the same year. Here she and Miss Lewis pass on the deck of an ocean liner bound for Egypt, with Miss Kemp sadly not as warm.

I would nitpick about it still being the 20’s and this pretty full white fox jacket was, perhaps, a tad anachronistic, but I don’t really care. I’d nitpick more it was worn by Fiona Lewis and not Valli Kemp, who would have done it more justice.

The horror genre doesn’t generally serve up a lot of furs, so this was a nice exception to the rule. Though I grant Vulnavia’s signature outfit is a little light on fur. Still, the fox hat is great, and in combination with rest of the outfit, it is an excellent look for the character of a calm, detached-yet-stylish assassin. Yes, ideally the cape would have been black fox as well, that would have nailed it perfectly.

Another film in the costumed-like-it’s-1939 category, we have 1942’s They All Kissed the Bride, with a 37 year old Joan Crawford. If your mental image of Miss Crawford snaps to the 50’s and beyond, that’s unfortunate, as vintage 30’s and early 40’s Crawford is a truly spectacular beauty. Sadly most b-roll of Crawford always defaults to this “aged” period as, unfairly, it’s become her most “iconic.” This film is also notable as the female lead was to have been played by Carole Lombard, who died in a plane crash before filming started, leading to Crawford taking the role.

They All Kissed the Bride – The Film

Margaret J. Drew (Crawford) is the tough-as-nails head of both family and business, the latter being a trucking corporation. She learns she and her business are being targeted by a muckraking journalist, Michael Holmes (Melvyn Douglas) and is none too pleased. At her sister’s wedding, she meets and is smitten by a “mysterious stranger” who turns out to be… the Pope! No… of course it’s Mike Holmes, the muckraking journalist. To say they eventually fall in love and live happily ever after shouldn’t require a spoiler alert.

They All Kissed the Bride – The Furs

This film mostly falls into the 1 epic fur category, though it has at least one other of note. The one epic fur in question is the full length silver fox fur coat Margaret Drew wears as she goes to visit Mike Holmes at his humble abode. The second is a more 40’s contemporary silver fox shawl/wrap seen later in the film, also after going to visit Mike’s place. Mike’s a lucky guy.

And here it is, Joan Crawford in a big, full, full length silver fox coat, accented with a dark hat with what appears to be a veil that’s never actually used, unfortunately.

Oddly, Joan’s the nervous one here. Not sure how that’s possible in a power fox like that, but it defiantly speaks her range as an actress to pull it off.

She finally makes it up to his apartment, and again balks at the door, but looks great doing so.

Margaret finally works up the courage to have a brief chat.

She returns to the office wearing what may be the same large fox coat, though I do note the difference in the brightness of the highlights, which means it may be yet a different large fox coat, perhaps crystal. Or it could be the lighting…

Later, Margaret returns, this time in a large silver fox wrap and an even taller feathered hat.

She ends up in the pouring rain with the wrap, leading to its use an impromptu umbrella.

Though rain generally isn’t all that detrimental to a long haired fur as long as the leather doesn’t get too wet (and that’s what the fur is for), she does find a convenient awning keep the rain off.

Crawford had a great streak of films in the late 30’s for fur, with The Bride Wore Red, Mannequin, and Ice Follies of 1939, all which I hope to profile, if TCM would just show them again so I can get more up-to-date screen caps. The full length fox in They All Kissed the Bride is a great example of a 30’s fur showing up in the early 40’s, much like the furs in Lady of Burlesque and Lady Be Good.

City Heat – The Film

City Heat is part of a long Hollywood tradition of the buddy cop movie, the “half twist” here is one of the cops had retired and is now a private eye. The other twist is, get this, they don’t like each other! Imagine that, a buddy cop movie where they start out not liking each other then grow to respect one another by the end of the film. Burt Reynolds plays former cop, current fast-talking private eye Mike Murphy, and Clint Eastwood plays Lieutenant Speer, a hard nosed cop who thinks actions speak louder than words. Utterly brilliant casting here, folks. Murphy and Speer team up against a gangster… and… yeah, I don’t care either.

City Heat – The Furs

So, onto the important stuff. This is a movie set in the 30’s filmed in the 80’s. Jackpot. Though there is more than one fur in the film, the only one that anyone remembers is the full length white fox coat worn by Madeline Kahn’s character, Caroline Howley, who ends up being Murphy’s love interest in the film. The other furs are a bit more conservative though, ironically, perhaps more historically accurate than the one worn by Ms. Kahn. More on that in a moment.

Very early on, we need to establish some villainy and this lady is on the receiving end of it, looking good in a red fox collared coat. It’s a rather short sequence in which she spends most of it with a gun pointed at her head.

Fast forward (literally, I recommend it) to the third act where Madeline Kahn and her full length white fox fur coat show up and are promptly kidnapped by the minions of the big bad, mob boss Primo Pitt.

She calls Murphy to tell him about it.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I call into question the historic accuracy of Ms. Kahn’s white fox coat. The fur appears to have a bit of an off-the-rack flavor for the time, “the time” being the 1980’s. This is not to disparage it at all, the fact you could find big, thick white fox coats off the rack in 1980’s what made it such a magical time.

Kidnapped, Madeline passes the time playing poker with her gangster hosts.

In another total non-cliche, she beats the tough, experienced gangsters at their own game.

I’m guessing the excuse to have her wear the coat the entire time was the fact that she’s in her “underwear,” since no one else in the room seems the least bit chilly.

Murphy rescues Caroline, and they exit out onto the street for a little smooching.

Finally, Clint Eastwood’s love of jazz requires a final scene in a random jazz club where he plays the piano. Murphy and Caroline show up, with Caroline expressing how thrilled she is to be there. Her fox trimmed jacket is more reminiscent of actual period dress, though.

City Heat as a film is about a formulaic as they come, lest my earlier sarcasm was missed. Still, Madeline Kahn and her white fox fur coat in combination with judicious use of fast forward, make it quite the enjoyable cinematic experience. If you like Madeline Kahn in fox, you can squint at a younger version playing the Hitchcock Blonde in High Anxiety‘s lounge scene where she’s got a blue fox stole or wrap on the chair behind her. Bonus there is it’s also a really great film you won’t have to fast forward through.

Lady Be Good – The Film

An Oscar winning film you’ve probably never heard of, mostly because there’s a bunch of Oscars most people don’t consider all that memorable and they’ve been around for along time, thus the winner for Best Original Song in 1942 isn’t really what get’s featured on the usual Oscar B-reel. That would be Lady Be Good, by the way, for the song “The Last Time I Saw Paris.”

The movie itself, like many musicals, is about a struggling songwriting team, played by Ann Southern and Robert Young, who end up writing a big hit, and making the big time. Like, for some strange reason, many of the films I’ve profiled here, they end up getting a divorce because of all that fame. If classic Hollywood has taught me anything, it’s “get a divorce, you’ll encounter women in great fur coats along the way.” Naturally this little hiccup in their relationship doesn’t outlast the third act, and everyone gets married again, and, depending on your views about marriage, lives happily ever after.

Lady Be Good – The Furs

This is another good example of an early ’40’s film costumed like it’s 1939. The film features both Ann Southern and top bill Elanor Powell in large foxes, including some white fox that would be rare in the next ten or thirty years or so. Two very large white foxes appear, in fact, one a coat, one a wrap, as well as a silver fox wrap, that, thankfully, portends the end of fashion’s love affair with the head and legs remaining attached to any combination of silver fox and stole. Those stoles were the sour pill in an otherwise perfect decade of fur fashion.

Newly successful songwriting team of Dixie Donegan (Southern) and Eddie Crane (Young) zip to their societal rounds in whatever passes for a limo at the time. Dixie is wrapped up in a big white fox wrap with veil that accents it well.

Eddie leaves Dixie behind to continue clubbing. Eddie’s hard partying ways will eventually lead to, you guessed it, divorce for the happy couple. I’d like to point out, briefly, I love the name Dixie Donegan.

Bending over to say hello to the doggie is Elenor Powell, playing the equally alliterative but less interestingly named Marilyn Marsh. I put this up mostly because in the still, though it looks like Ann Southern has bunny ears, it’s just her feet.

The costume designer liked veils in this flick, as Elenor displays her black net veil as a complement to her silver fox wrap. Bonus points awarded for the matching black gloves, of course. She’s a long, slim cigarette holder away from perfection.

The cast assembles at the justice of the peace, or maybe a minister. The finer points are hazy to me at this point. Though I’m sure mink fans are pleased, I must state Elenor’s mink get’s a buy because of Ann’s fox.

Not sure why they insisted on the heavy metal breaking up the lines on the fox, I could certainly do with out it, but it doesn’t sully the overall product too much. A rare example of a large white fox coat in the 40’s.

Overall, the 1941 Lady Be Good was positively epic for the time. If the costumer designer was stuck in the 30’s, that’s fine by me. I wish costume designers were still stuck in the 30’s. I have noticed a conspicuous lack of white fox trimmed dresses on prime time television and films these days. Really, would it be so conspicuous if Claire Bennet’s cheerleader outfit was made of fox, or Kara Thrace lounged around the ready room in a crystal fox flight jacket? No, not at all. Oops, my genre cred is showing.

As a follow on to a decade of awesome fur fashion, the 1940’s stunk nearly as much as the 90’s. Their only redeeming grace, the fact fur didn’t simply vanish, it simply became far more conservative. Mink ruled the day, in coats and jackets. Elegant and… boring. I refer to it as “church fur”. The one’s the old ladies could be found in on freezing Sunday mornings. Fortunately there’s a few beacons of power fur to be found.

Lady of Burlesque – The Film

Perhaps Barbara Stanwyck’s aura of power fox held over from the 30’s just long enough to influence the costumers on Lady of Burlesque. Perhaps it was the more “bawdy” burlesque setting. Either way, 1943’s Lady of Burlesque featured a few notable foxes shining in a sea of otherwise dour mink to be found in the neighboring theaters.

Based on the novel The G-String Murders by notable burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee, Lady of Burlesque stars Stanwyck as Dixie Daisy. Dixie stands in for Lee, who starred in her own novel, solving the g-string strangulations of a couple of strippers in a converted opera house, aided by her would-be comedian boyfriend.

Lady of Burlesque – The Furs

Dixie is pestered by Biff Brannigan (Michael O’Shea) before her opening number, which will prominently feature this huge white fox fur muff with long tails.

Dixie opens the show with “Take it off the A string, Play it on the G String”. Hampered by censors, the suggestive nature of the song isn’t quite lived up to in the dance, but Dixie accentuates her movements with the huge fox muff nicely

The movement of the tails during the dance is a nice touch, though the giant silver bird covering up the body of the muff is an annoying distraction. Why hide such a great piece of fox?

Later Dixie and Biff meet for drinks at the bar. Dixie wears a large cape or jacket that looks to be a very plush fox, though may be coyote. Color can be useful from time to time.

This scene is an example of a good director of photography. During the entire sequence Barbara Stanwyck and her fox fur are almost never out of frame.

Their conversation at the bar switches between 2 angles, but never letting Barbara leave frame. This technique should be mandatory for any shot with a beautiful lady in a beautiful fur talking chatting with some idiot male.

You know that lovely stereotype of the haughty Russian vamp in fur with a long cigarette holder? Here’s Stephanie Bachelor as “Princess Nirvena.”

The Princess, much like Ginger Rogers’ Countess Scharwenka isn’t quite the old world royalty she claims to be, but that doesn’t stop Stephanie from tearing up the scenery with her accent, fur stole, and cigarette holder.

Close up of the Princess. Miss Bachelor’s look here is prefect, though it could certainly use even more fur.

Princess Nirvena and Dixie meet briefly before Dixie goes on stage. The Princess Nirvena in her dark fox stole and Dixie in a white fox stole, perhaps a less than subtle play on their characters’ inner natures.

Dixie and company do a comedy bit which segues into a dance number during some backstage commotion. The white fox stole is gamely flung about much like the fox muff in the opening number. Though I’m not really a fan of the “mask” and “paws” style that was common for stoles back then.

Lady of Burlesque is definitely a novelty for the use of large fox furs in the 40’s. That alone is worth notice. Stephanie Bachelor’s pitch perfect smoking, fur-clad faux Russian vamp could have used a much bigger fox for her outfit, but that is a small nitpick. Though Barbara gets the better furs overall, Stephanie steals this one.